Academy 12

I have only owned the Academy 12 for a few days, but loved the feel and sound of it at the shop, so I bought it. That a dear friend of mine, since passed on a few years ago, loved his Taylor guitar he had purchased perhaps 35 years ago...that had an influence. Of course, his was quite the hand crafted special guitar at $2700! With inflation, today it would be worth well over $5000 new, I believe. But none the less, I feel I got a-lot of value at $700 + tax for the Taylor Academy 12. I have been playing a beautiful Ibanez E guitar with lots of abalone shell inlays, periodically. But with my other guitar a wreck, I needed something to get me playing regularly again without a big financial commitment. My wife listened to me play my Ibanez unplugged and then the Taylor, and she preferred the sound of the Taylor a little more. Oh, I play left handed which this Taylor guitar happened to be!